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Amazing Race Canada: The Toronto Star competes (and loses)

Trying to summon seven lines of “The Maple Leaf Forever,” I wished I’d paid more attention to Canadian history. Or mastered mnemonic devices. Or been blessed with a photographic memory.

In a downtown park Tuesday, in front of a judge for The Amazing Race Canada’s media challenge, I didn’t have those skills. So I briefly, but seriously, considered quitting the simulation of the reality TV show, which premieres on CTV on Monday, July 15, at 9 p.m.

Eventually, I managed to memorize the words from a poster and recite them, closing my eyes in concentration. My teammate and I moved to the final challenge, answering trivia questions at the Cadillac Lounge.

By the time we crossed the finish line, coming sixth out of eight media teams, we’d learned some lessons.

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Break some rules

“Make your way by public transit to the Red Canoe Sculpture and search for your next clue!”

The instruction started off the race. I took it seriously and so did my teammate, Alex Ballingall, another Toronto Star reporter. Determined to catch a mandatory streetcar or bus, we sprinted to Spadina Ave.

Frustrated with time-consuming transit detours, we decided to run to Fort York Blvd., but only after wasting several minutes at the stop. We should have ignored the transit rule from the start.

Contestants face varying penalties for breaking rules or skipping challenges, but sometimes it’s worth it. “The biggest thing about the race is you making decisions,” Lysakowski said. “There are times in the race, when racers decide to take a penalty . . . sometimes the penalty won’t be enough to knock you out.”

Hope strangers are kind

With our phones confiscated and no idea where to find a red canoe sculpture, we first ran down Queen St., hoping the answer would present itself. Unsuccessfully asking one tourist was enough for me, so I asked a clothing store clerk to look it up on the store’s computer.

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He even allowed me to get behind the counter to speed up the search. The next location I needed to find, the first person I asked helpfully looked it up on her phone. Lastly, cheering One Direction fans outside the Air Canada Centre pointed us to the finish line.

Using the kindness of others doesn’t break any rules, Lysakowski said. “You want to see people interacting, you don’t want to see people sitting on their computer or their smartphone,” he said. “That’s not interesting television.”

Pick good cab drivers

Being unable to drive, competitors were at the mercy of transit and cab drivers. In only a few hours, Ballingall and I had an excited driver who took our photo and went out of his way for us, another who was solely focused on traffic and another who kicked us out of his car.

It happened on the real show as well, Lysakowski said, adding that a team was once taken in the wrong direction and dropped off at the wrong place.

Chris Jancelewicz, half of the winning Huffington Post team, partially pegged the team’s win on getting one great driver, who was excited about helping the team and drove on side streets to avoid traffic lights.

“A lot of it’s about luck . . . we realized how integral good cabbies are to this race,” Jancelewicz said. “But we also got out and ran because traffic was too heavy.”

Be decisive

Umming and ahhing in a cab on the way to the Cadillac Lounge, Ballingall and I considered ditching the trivia challenge in favour of a closer croquet challenge in Trinity Bellwoods Park.

Only one had to be completed. But we couldn’t make our minds up, so we continued on to trivia.

In the same situation, Jancelewicz and his winning teammate decisively got out at Trinity Bellwoods. “Since it was there, we thought, ‘Hey . . . let’s do the croquet.’ And we did it,” he said, adding that having a runner for a team mate also helped.

They finished the challenge quickly and went on to win the race. On the TV show, only the last team would have been eliminated. On Tuesday, only the first-place team won a charitable donation.

“Always hustle,” Ballingall said, as we lamented our loss. “Just make a decision and stick with it . . . because moments where we were discussing, you’ve just got to decide what to do. Go, keep moving.”

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